Award Winning Blog - Agitator

We Cannot Fundraise Alone

Hopefully The Agitator has stirred the pot constructively with some of our recent rants (here and here) about fundraising atrocities, as they are found in the US. Alan Clayton at the UK’s Clayton Burnett takes the conversation further, with these remarks. While UK-centric here and there, it seems to me he’s right on target. Fundraising […]

Learn More July 3, 2013

Heart And Mind … Both Count

This Paul Sullivan column in the NY Times — Two Paths for Charitable Giving: From the Heador From the Heart — discusses one of the perennial questions about charitable giving — does it come from the head or the heart? A good piece to reflect on. My own view is that this is a bit […]

Learn More July 2, 2013

The Wall’s Going Up, But Special Reprieve Granted

Today, great news (depending on your perspective). Response to our ‘Kill’ or ‘Continue’ The Agitator proposition has come down decidedly on the side of ‘Continue’. So, The Agitator lives on. We think that’s great news, and we sincerely thank you for your early, encouraging support. We are pledged to make The Agitator more and more […]

Learn More July 1, 2013

Graft Is Graft

‘Graft’ has many definitions, and I guess is most commonly used in horticulture and surgical circles. But here’s the definition that applies in fundraising circles: ‘Money gained by unscrupulous means.’ Unfortunately that definition doesn’t quite reach to outright fraud. So, on the one hand, I was pleased to see Suzanne Perry’s update in the Chronicle […]

Learn More June 28, 2013

Is The Fed Wrecking Your Fundraising?

Kelly Browning, CEO of the American Institute for Cancer Research, possesses an abundance of the one trait I value most in fundraisers and nonprofit executives — curiosity. Seldom does any significant fundraising conference or nonprofit gathering take place that Kelly’s not sitting in as many sessions and asking as many questions as is humanly possible. […]

Learn More June 27, 2013

Fundraisers … Personal Shoppers For Donors

In her latest blog post, Sacred Cows: Battling Ourselves, Angie Moore takes on an important topic — how did you guess? — nonprofit sacred cows. She observes: “Most people prefer some type of routine. Those routines create patterns, and before long we’re all saying, “Well, that’s the way we do it.” So an organization that […]

Learn More June 26, 2013